I dug Rat Rod's old Jawa out of the storage barn behind my house today. The discussions on mopeds on the forum caught his eye and he asked if I still had this one of his.
He got it when we lived in Michigan (see the moped sticker on the back) and rode it for a while before it began having "issues". I guess that was back in 1986. I see the moped sticker was good until 1987.
First, the kickstand broke off. These have no starter and no pull rope to crank the engine on them, so the normal routine was to stand it up on the kickstand to get the rear wheel up in the air and then peddle like crazy to get the engine started and once it was running, push it off of the kickstand and go.
So no more kickstand meant getting some of his buddies to get behind and push you down the street or sidewalk until the engine finally turned over and started.
No problem. Still workable and it just meant giving your buddies a ride on the back since they helped you get it going.
The killer, though, was when it lost the spark. I think one of the coils on the side of the motor gave out, but by then Rat Rod was almost old enough to drive, so it sat and we never fixed it after that.
As with most old things, time has done a number on it - especially since it's been stored in a humid storage shed for over 20 years now. The back wheel won't roll, but I don't know if it's the rusty chain on it, or more than likely the motor has frozen up over the years. I guess it's good for some nostalgia, though.
Or hey, I've heard that some people even take the front ends off and build RRBBO bikes out of them!! :lol: :lol:
Here's the Jawa in all of it's current glory ......
By the way, the picture of the front end looks a little foggy - but the problem is bringing a camera from a cool house out into the yard where the temperature is in the 90's and the humidity is currently 95% plus. Almost instant fog up on the lens. Ah, summer time in hot, humid, Houston.
He got it when we lived in Michigan (see the moped sticker on the back) and rode it for a while before it began having "issues". I guess that was back in 1986. I see the moped sticker was good until 1987.
First, the kickstand broke off. These have no starter and no pull rope to crank the engine on them, so the normal routine was to stand it up on the kickstand to get the rear wheel up in the air and then peddle like crazy to get the engine started and once it was running, push it off of the kickstand and go.
So no more kickstand meant getting some of his buddies to get behind and push you down the street or sidewalk until the engine finally turned over and started.
No problem. Still workable and it just meant giving your buddies a ride on the back since they helped you get it going.
The killer, though, was when it lost the spark. I think one of the coils on the side of the motor gave out, but by then Rat Rod was almost old enough to drive, so it sat and we never fixed it after that.
As with most old things, time has done a number on it - especially since it's been stored in a humid storage shed for over 20 years now. The back wheel won't roll, but I don't know if it's the rusty chain on it, or more than likely the motor has frozen up over the years. I guess it's good for some nostalgia, though.
Or hey, I've heard that some people even take the front ends off and build RRBBO bikes out of them!! :lol: :lol:
Here's the Jawa in all of it's current glory ......
By the way, the picture of the front end looks a little foggy - but the problem is bringing a camera from a cool house out into the yard where the temperature is in the 90's and the humidity is currently 95% plus. Almost instant fog up on the lens. Ah, summer time in hot, humid, Houston.
